


The Annulment

by pinkgeranium



Series: The Pack Survives. [1]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin
Genre: F/M, Future Fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-14
Updated: 2014-11-10
Packaged: 2018-02-21 05:19:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 8,541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2456225
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pinkgeranium/pseuds/pinkgeranium
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sansa Stark & her sworn shield Sandor Clegane visit King's Landing to obtain her annulment & his pardon from the Dragon Queen.  This fic takes place 5 years after the events in the first book (GOT).  Sansa is 16; Sandor 32.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Meeting in the Courtyard

**Author's Note:**

> As always kudos to GRRM. The world and the characters are his.

He has been waiting for his wife in the Courtyard.  When she finally appears her hand rests lightly inside the elbow of the man she calls her sworn shield. 

“Lady Sansa,” he bows his head.

“Lord Tyrion,” she bows hers.

“Clegane,” he inclines his head towards the scarred man & Clegane inclines his in turn, although he says nothing.  The man was always taciturn, Tyrion recalls.  “My apologies for not greeting you when you arrived but I had urgent business with the Queen.”  He reaches for Sansa’s other hand which hangs loosely at her side thinking to kiss it, she is still his wife after all, but she pulls it back.

“I’m sorry Lord Tyrion.  I thank you for the annulment and I know you always tried to be kind to me but I swore to myself I would never let a Lannister touch me again.”  Tyrion glances at her hand on Clegane’s arm.

“No Lannisters; but I see you make an exception for a Lannister dog.”  It has always been his way to deflect awkwardness with a jape and he is unprepared for the violence of her response.  She launches herself at him and Clegane is suddenly holding her back, his hands gripping her arms tightly.

“Don’t you dare call him that.  He is not your dog.  He is no man’s dog; you make mock only of what you made him.”  _There’s the wolf he thinks, I always knew it was there._

“Lady Sansa, Lord Tyrion is Hand of the Queen, we owe him our respect.  You should not argue with him least of all over me.  He may call me what he likes.  I know who I am and so do you.”  Clegane speaks quietly, calmly, as though he is speaking to a spooked horse or a child.  _This softness in him is new_ Tyrion thinks and he does not know what to make of it.

“I hope his Queen shows her Hand the same respect my father’s did.”  It takes Tyrion a moment to realise Sansa is hoping his Queen will take his head.

“Lady Sansa, you don’t mean that,” Sansa finally stills, but Tyrion notices she is trembling.  “You should sit down.”  Clegane helps her sit on a bench a short distance from where they were standing and signals to Tyrion that they should both move a little further away.  Clegane takes a position where he can keep an eye on his charge and begins to speak quietly so she can’t hear them.  “I’m sorry.  Lady Sansa is not herself.  She often speaks of your kindness to her and her gratitude for the annulment.  If I had imagined she would be like this at Winterfell I would not have agreed to bring her here.  But King’s Landing is bringing everything back to her.  I haven’t been able to stop her trembling since we entered the gates of the Red Keep.  She had nightmares last night.  She wouldn’t stop screaming.  If she sees the Queen in this state I am worried she may cause offence.”

“A Lannister always pays his debts & I know what I owe the Starks.  I will prepare the Queen.”

“Thank you Lord Tyrion.  My Lord - Lord Brandon Stark - that is.  He asked me to thank you for granting the annulment to his sister and he also asked me to remind you of a visit you paid to him on your way back from the Wall when his brother Robb sat the Lord’s chair.”

“I remember that visit.”

“Lord Stark told me you gave him a gift - the design for a special saddle so he might ride.  His brother Robb had one made for him but alas the saddle, the design and those who made it are all lost.  My Lord would ask you to send him the design; he would like to ride again.”

“I will re-draw the design for you so you may take it back to your Lord with my compliments.”

“I thank you.  Can I ask one more thing?” Tyrion almost sighs aloud _this has been a very one-sided conversation.  What does he want?  Probably Clegane Keep – the cursed place.  If he wants it he can have it._   Tyrion nods.

“I am worried about Lady Sansa, I don’t think we should stay in the capital as long as originally planned.  Can you speed things up with the Queen and the High Septon?  If nothing can be done to speed up my pardon that doesn’t matter, I can come back, but she needs to do what she has come for as quickly as possible.”

“I will do what I can.  But there is something you should  know.  The queen means to ask for a hostage to ensure the loyalty of the Starks – she says they have a history of rebelling against the throne that she does not wish to see repeated.  She had thought to ask for Sansa.”

“You must see that Lady Sansa cannot stay-“

“Believe me I see.  That leaves one of the boys.”

“The Northern Lords will never consent to the Broken Wolf leaving the North.  You know how stubborn Lord Manderley has been about the annulment.  The Greatjon and the Mormont woman don’t care for the Southern Gods.  So as far as they are concerned Lady Sansa is unmarried so they haven’t troubled themselves with the annulment much but it’s unlikely they’ll allow a Lord Stark to leave the North again after what happened to the last three.”

“What about the little one?”

“Trust me he’d be too much trouble for you.  The thing with a hostage is you need to keep track of it and we can’t even keep track of him at Winterfell.  He’s a wild little thing, runs off all the time, goes missing for days and then turns up at table for dinner like nothing’s happened.  You’d best talk the Queen out of a hostage.  These Starks have felt the suffering that comes of rebellion, they aren’t like to rebel again.”

“Father!” an extremely dirty small boy seemed to come out of nowhere and launch himself at Clegane’s legs clinging to him fiercely.  Clegane’s look of puzzlement turns to disbelief as recognises the dirty face that looks up at him adoringly. 

“Rickon?”

“You and mother left me again.” 

For possibly the first time in his life Tyrion does not know what to say, Clegane gives him a look as if daring him to say a word before he lowers himself to the boy’s level.  “Rickon, how many times to I have to tell you that I am not your father and that Lady Sansa is your sister, not your mother?  You know what happened to your mother and father.”

“I know but sometimes I forget, and sometimes I like to pretend to forget so I can have a mother and father again.”  _Here’s another person the Lannister’s owe a debt to,_ he thinks _I owe the Stark children a father, and a mother, and a brother.  I owe Sansa her freedom, and the Broken Wolf his legs, and the gods only know what I owe this child._

“Now, how did you get here Rickon?” Clegane asks.  Again Tyrion is shocked at his gentleness.

“Shaggy and I followed you.”

“You followed us all the way from Winterfell?”  The boy only nods in response. “What did you do with Shaggy?”

“He didn’t want to come into the city so I left him hunting in the woods.”

“Well that’s one mercy at least.  Now your sister is over there, go sit with her while I finish talking to Lord Tyrion and then we will have to send a raven to your Lord brother, if you’ve been missing all these weeks he’s likely to have people searching for you.”

They watch as Rickon crosses to where Sansa is sitting.  A range of emotions pass across her face when she sees him: shock, happiness, fear.

“I imagine you find it hard to be angry with him when he explains it like that.”

“Almost impossible.  Lord Stark says Rickon probably doesn’t remember his parents very clearly.  His confusion with Sansa is easy to explain she looks a lot like Lady Catelyn.  As for me, well Lord Stark thinks it’s likely the only thing Rickon remembers about his father is that he was tall. I’d best be going to sort this out.” 


	2. A Memory from Childhood

The meeting in the courtyard sparks off something in Tyrion's memory, something he has not thought of for a long time and he wonders how he ever forgot it.  He is sitting under the table in his father’s solar.  It would be too small a space for a normal boy of his age but he often sits there reading all day while his father is out & sometimes he stays there unnoticed once his father returns.  He likes to know what is going on in the castle.  He thinks he has always known that knowledge was power.  That is how he happened to overhear the conversation between his father and his Castilian. 

“My Lord.”

“Yes what is it?”

“It’s about Clegane my Lord.”

“If it’s some crofter looking for compensation for his wife or his daughter tell him to go to Clegane keep and try his luck with Ser Gregor himself.  I am no longer responsible for his excesses.”

“No my Lord.  I have come about his brother.”

“The scarred one?  Well I am responsible for him, so how much is he going to cost me?  What did the boy do?”

“Nothing my Lord.  I don’t think you can expect the same trouble from Sandor that you’ve had from his brother.”

“That’s one blessing then.  He is not quite as large as Ser Gregor was at the same age but he will still grow to be an uncommonly large man and he has more speed than Gregor ever did.”

“Yes my Lord and he is smarter than Ser Gregor will ever be, good with figures and could be better with the right training, and he has such a gift with animals my Lord.  I have never seen the like.  The meanest cur in the kennels walks meekly at his heels.  The most high-spirited horse in the stables gentles at the sound of his voice and comes to nuzzle at his neck.”

“A knight has no need of such skills.  The boy is a good fighter is he not?”

“Yes my Lord, the best of his age, and of any two or three years older too, with the exception of your son my Lord, but even there he comes close.”

“Then why are you here talking to me about him?”

“With respect my Lord.  It would be a waste to use this boy as you used Ser Gregor for nothing but fighting.  I would like your leave to train him to take my place as your Castilian.”

“You do not have it.  That boy is moulded for fighting, just as Gregor was.  I mean have you seen his face?  That alone would be enough to send men running from the field of battle.  He will be a knight like his father and his brother before him.”

“My Lord, Sandor does not wish to be a knight-“

“What do you mean the boy doesn’t wish to be a knight? His father was a knight, his brother is a knight.  He can certainly fight well enough to be one.”

“He may fight well but he will never be what Ser Gregor is he lacks...” Tyrion can almost hear the wheel’s in the Castilian’s head turning.  He needs to find the right word.  Ser Gregor is a particular pet of Lord Tywin and the Castilian knows better than to insult him “...ferocity?”  The Castilian finally finishes, but his tone conveys that he has settled for a word that is not quite right.  Tyrion, who feels he knows Ser Gregor rather better than he would like to substitutes the word “madness” in his own head.

“Then we must teach him to find the ferocity.  It must be in there somewhere.”

_Another debt for me to pay_ , Tyrion thinks, _they all died and left me here to spend the rest of my life paying their debts._


	3. A Conversation with the Queen

“No wonder you agreed to the annulment – I hear the girl is quite deranged.”

“Clegane assures me she is well enough when at home in the North my Queen but she underwent many hardships when she was a hostage here in the Court of my sister.  Being here has brought them all back to her.  Clegane has asked me to help conclude their business as soon as possible so he can take her back to the North.”

“And that scarred man.  He is as bad as she is.  I give him a perfectly good chamber, right next to hers as they requested and where does he sleep?  Out in the hall, on a straw pallet in front of her bedroom door like a dog.  It is just as well the hallways in the part of the keep are wide or people would be forever tripping over him.”  Tyrion resists the impulse to laugh.  “I have also heard how she spoke to you yesterday until Clegane reminded her of the respect due to you as Hand of the Queen.” _And after,_ he thinks _, what she said after Clegane had reminded her had been the worst_. 

“I lost my own family, I was married to a man I did not love, against my will and I made the best of it.  I even grew to Love Khal Drogo.”  _In the name of the Gods don’t let her change her mind about the annulment_ he thinks.  _If she does Lord Manderley will travel down from White Harbour and start haranguing the High Septon and then where we will be._   Since the day Sansa had returned to the North Lord Manderley had written to the High Septon every week petitioning for Sansa’s marriage to be annulled.  He had stopped all tithes to the faith, seized all the faith’s properties within his walls, and turned out the Septons and Septas from White Harbour.  He had threatened to abandon the faith of the Seven entirely and start worshiping the Old Gods as said he would not be part of a faith that facilitated, condoned and up-held the marriage of a hostage to her captor. 

“My Queen,” he says and asks her leave to tell her Sansa’s story.  When she nods he begins.  Some of it he has pieced together from things Joffery or Lord Tywin told him, some of it he witnessed, so he is on firm ground there and as he speaks he becomes aware of certain things. How he barely had to open his mouth to ask for something to cover Lady Sansa that day in the throne room before Clegane had given her his cloak.  Not only had he been the first one to react to Tyrion’s words he had been the only one. 

He is only vaguely aware of the Queen saying “He ordered the Kingsguard to beat her?” as she looks across at Ser Barristen Selmy. 

“What can you expect with the Kingslayer as their commander?”

“Ser Jamie wasn’t even here then, he was a captive of the King in the North.”  Tyrion doesn’t know why he still feels this old compulsion to defend his dead brother.  Ser Barristen only snorts in response.

Tyrion ignores him and plows on with Sansa’s story.  He tells them about the bread riots and again he finds himself thinking about Clegane.  Clegane had been closest to the King when all hell broke loose yet while every other member of the Kingsguard had flocked to the King and Cersei and arrived safely back at the keep where had Clegane gone?  He’d gone into the mob to find Sansa Stark & then brought her back safely to the Red Keep. 

“Lord Tyrion?”  The Queen is giving him an odd look and he realises he has stopped speaking.  So he continues on with the story.  The breaking of Sansa’s bethrothal to the King, the Tyrell marriage plot, Sansa’s forced marriage to him, his father’s complicity in the Red Wedding.  He tells her all of it, all that he knows.  He doesn’t stop until Joffery’s wedding.  The Queen knows the truth of that of course.  It is all in Sansa’s testimony, the testimony that exonerated him from kinslaying and kingslaying.  Testimony the Queen has already read. 

“So, she will get her annulment and Clegane will get his pardon for deserting the Kingsguard and for what happened at the Saltpans?”

“A Lannister must pay his debts my Queen.”

“Then how is it that I am the one paying them?”

“Lady Sansa and Clegane have done nothing to Your Grace.”

“What about what his brother did to my goodsister and her son?”

“Need I remind you that my brother killed your father Your Grace.”

“The Starks are known to be rebels and traitors.”

“The first time, Lord Eddard rebelled against a King who had killed his father and brother and demanded his head though Lord Eddard had done nothing.  The second time he rebelled against a false King, a child of incest.  The only Starks left are little more than children and they have tasted the bitter fruit of rebellion.”

“I was younger than the Lady Sansa is now when I started trying to regain my throne.”

“The Starks don’t want your throne Your Grace.  Eddard Stark could have taken it after your father died if he’d wanted it.  Even Robb Stark only proclaimed himself King in the North.  He made no claim to the Iron Throne.  The Starks only care about the North.”

“You’re going to tell me I can’t have my hostage aren’t you?”

“You can’t keep the Lady Sansa, you’ve heard how she is here & she’s been a hostage long enough. The Broken Wolf will never be allowed to leave the North.”

“What about the little boy?”

“I understand from Clegane that he would cause us a great deal of trouble.”

“And you trust Clegane’s word on this?”

“Yes and I expect we are about to taste this trouble for ourselves.”

“What do you mean?”

“Clegane had just told me they find the boy impossible to keep track of at Winterfell.  You have heard the stories of where he was found, how he is called the wild-wolf, of how no one can control him.  Well, it seems the boy followed them here.”


	4. A Conversation with Sandor Clegane

He tells himself he is walking the halls aimlessly but in truth he knows where his feet are taking him.  Clegane is lying awake on his straw pallet in front of the door.

“So where is the youngest Stark?”

“In with his sister.  They’ll both sleep better that way and so will I.”  He laughs at that.

“Why don’t you sleep inside the door?  It’s drafty in this corridor.”

“Doesn’t bother me none.  I’ve slept in the open on the hard ground.  A sworn shield protects his lady’s reputation as well as her person.”

“Even when that lady’s reputation is already damaged?”

“There is no truth to that gossip; and I won’t be giving anyone cause to say there is truth to my part in it.  I know my place.”

“You don’t intend to marry her once the annulment comes through?”

“Me?  Marry the Lady Sansa?  Did you fall on your head Imp?  I just told you I know my place.”  Tyrion glimpses the Hound just for a moment and then the new calm Clegane is back.  They both ignore his brief outburst. 

“I could return Clegane Keep to you.”

“What use would I have for it?  I serve the Lady Sansa and her brother Lord Stark.  I intend to spend the remainder of my life in the North, in their service.”

“And when she marries?  Will you go with her or stay with Lord Stark?”

“I imagine I will go where Lord Stark tells me to go, unless Lady Sansa tells me different.”  He smiles when he says this.

“You might not always feel that way.  You might want to be your own dog.”

“I tried it and it didn’t agree with me.  You’re not the only one owes a debt to the Starks.  I killed Northmen here.  Lord Eddard’s own men, first in the throne room and then in the Tower of the Hand.  I stood on the steps of Baelor’s when they took Lord Eddard’s head.  It seems like giving the Starks my life and my sword is a poor exchange for all that but it’s all I have to give.  Some are made to serve.”

“And some are made for more than service.  Do you remember my father’s Castilian at Casterly Rock when you were in training there?”

Clegane nods, “I remember him.”

“He came to my father once, said you were better than your brother, that you were smart, that you’d be wasted as a fighter.  He thought you deserved more.”

“Well we don’t all get what we deserve.”

“No we don’t, at least not until we start believing we deserve it.”


	5. An Audience with the Dragon Queen

The Queen is growing impatient.  Tyrion steps outside the throne room to see what is keeping them.  When catches sight of them they are standing in an alcove to one side of the doors.  Sansa is shaking her head and Clegane is rubbing her arms, trying to calm her.

“I can’t go in there.”

“Yes you can.  You are a Stark.  A wolf of the North.  You are brave.  I’ve seen it.  You’ve survived lions, and mockingbirds.”

“Mockingbirds aren’t so scary.” It’s the boy’s voice, though Tyrion can't see him from where he's standing.

“Trust me this one was, and your sister killed it with her own hands.”

“You killed a bird Sansa?” the boy asks.

“No.  I killed a man.”  Sansa says quietly and Tyrion takes a few steps back, so he can pretend not to have heard her, and clears his throat.

“Her Grace is waiting.”

“Thank you Lord Tyrion.  We will come at once.” It is Sansa who speaks and he wonders at her calmness but as she draws closer to him he can see she is still shaking.  It is as well he warned the queen about this.  He hopes Sansa is not going to confess to killing anyone in the Queen’s hearing.

As it turns out it is the boy he should have been worried about.

As Sansa and Clegane walk into the throne room the boy darts about sometimes behind, sometimes in front, sometimes to the side.

Sansa kneels before the throne and Clegane does likewise.  Clegane breaks protocol by speaking first,  _he should know better after all the years he’s spent at Court._

“I apologise for the boy Your Grace, he is wild and ungovernable.  Rickon!  Come and kneel before the Dragon Queen.”

“You have Dragons?  Where are they?”  Rickon’s face appears from behind a pillar.

“Come and kneel before the Queen and perhaps she will tell you.”  Clegane’s calm is unruffled but Sansa is panicking, Tyrion can see the whites of her eyes.  _Does she seriously think Daenerys will hurt the boy?_

“Please rise Lady Sansa, and you Clegane.  Do not mind the boy.”  The Queen speaks, and Clegane helps Sansa to her feet, her shaking is even worse than before.

“We are sorry your Grace, we could not leave him with anyone and we dare not trust him on his own.”

“If they leave me with people I don’t know I bite them.  Not Clegane or Sansa or Bran or Osha but I bite everyone else and then I run away and no one can find me until I want to be found. Sometimes I let Clegane think he’s found me but he hasn’t really.  Sometimes I tell people he’s my father but he isn’t really.  My father’s dead.   Sansa killed a bird and Clegane is not a dog anymore.  I don’t know how he changed but he did – he must have been a big dog don’t you think?  Not quite so big as my direwolf though.”

Tyrion wonders if his Queen is thinking what an impossible hostage this boy would be but she seems to be amused by his prattle.

“My father is dead too,” she says, thankfully ignoring all that about birds and dogs and direwolves.  But the mention of her dead father seems to bring a chill to the air, as though everyone is suddenly conscious of the actions of past Targaryens, Starks, Lannisters and Cleganes that have brought them to this moment in time.  _This is the room where the Queen’s father executed Sansa’s grandfather and uncle.  This is the room where his own father Tywin Lannister laid the bodies of Rhaegar’s slain children at King Robert’s feet after Gregor Clegane had slain the infant prince._

Rickon is impervious to any chill. “Sansa and Clegane’s fathers are dead too.  We are all orphans.  Sansa says her father was my father too and that makes her my sister but she doesn’t look like my sister.  My sister was smaller, and fatter and happier - she was always laughing and singing.  I used to have another sister too, a smaller one but she’s lost. Clegane thinks she’ll come back but no one else does.”

“Rickon the Queen is very busy and she needs to talk to your sister, so you need to stop talking now.” Clegane is giving Rickon a stern look, his voice is firm but not harsh.

“Yes Clegane.  But I just have to say two more things first.”

“Very well, what are they?”

“The Queen is very beautiful and Sansa is crying.”  The Queen laughed and Clegane handed Sansa a handkerchief. 

“I’m sorry Your Grace, he does not know what he is saying half the time.”  It is the first time Sansa has spoken since entering the throne room, but her voice is surprisingly steady.  She is holding on to Clegane’s arm with one hand.  Clegane seems to be struggling to keep his eye on the youngest Stark without moving from Sansa’s side.   _At least the doors are closed_  Tyrion thinks,  _the boy is corralled in here with us_.  “He is so confused.  Sometimes he thinks I am his sister, and sometimes his mother, and sometimes he thinks me no one at all.  I know they call my brother Lord Stark, the Broken Wolf, Your Grace, but we Starks are all broken.  I have been… distressed since I arrived in Kings Landing.  My memories of my time as a hostage to the Crown have been flooding back to me.  I have been cruel to Lord Tyrion even though I know he is the only Lannister I have ever had cause to be grateful to; and my poor sworn shield has had to put up with me crying and shaking and screaming.”

“Lord Tyrion has told me something of your hardships here Lady Sansa and I understand how it must distress you to find yourself here again.”

“I don’t want to appear ungracious my Queen but I would like to conclude my business here and return home to the North as soon as possible with my Sworn Shield and my brother.  It is doing me no good to remember the life I lived here.” Her voice is sweet and low, it is only the way she trembles and clings to Clegane’s arm that gives away her distress.  Sansa is wearing her courtesy like armour once again but it does not protect her as well as it used to, or maybe she simply has less faith in it.  Tyrion wonders if the Queen can see the way Sansa is shaking from her throne on the dais. 

“Lord Tyrion has already made this request of me. The High Septon will be here this afternoon to meet with Lord Tyrion and yourself to finalize the annulment.”

“Thank you Your Grace.  What about my sworn shield?  His pardon?”

“I have it here Lady Sansa, do you wish to see it?”

“Yes please Your Grace.” When the Queen holds it out Sansa steps forward to grab it, for one moment it seems like her knees are about to give way but she manages to steady herself leaning quite heavily on Clegane’s arm.  She opens the paper, reads it, then rolls it up again.  “Thank you Your Grace.”  She hands it to Clegane and he tucks it inside his cloak.

“I signed it this morning and the wording is as we agreed.”

“Your Grace is truly just and merciful.  I would offer you something in return Your Grace.  I know you are probably of the mind to ask us for a hostage given that my grandfather, uncle, father, mother and brother have all committed treason against those who sat the iron throne.  But we are in no position to offer you a hostage – there are only three of us.  We would like to offer an alternative, my brother Lord Brandon and I are resolved that neither of us will travel south of the Neck without Your Grace’s invitation, and we would not ask you to invite us.”

“You would confine yourselves to the North then?”

“Yes Your Grace.  I would have made the promise for Rickon too but he is wild and will not be governed.  If I was to tell him he couldn’t travel south nothing would be more likely to make him do so, especially now that he has been here and met Your Grace.  He may take it upon himself to visit you.”

“Do you not have family in the south?”

“You have restored the castle at Riverrun to my uncle Edmure, Your Grace.  He was my mother’s brother but none of us know him and his wife is a Frey.  It was at his wedding that- that- they call it the Red Wedding Your Grace - where my mother and brother were murdered. Lord Stark and I have no wish to visit them.”

“Understandably.  Your uncle has not petitioned me to have his marriage set aside?”

“I have heard they have a child now Your Grace.  And we have no one else in the South apart from them.  I had an aunt and cousin in the Vale but they are both dead now.  Our only other living relative is our brother Jon at the Wall.  I believe you met him when you traveled north to fight the Others with your dragons my Queen.”

“I did.  Lord Commander Snow fought valiantly.  As did your sworn shield I understand – though I did not meet him there myself.”  The Queen gave Clegane an appraising look and he bowed his head in response.  “Though of course, even then, I had heard some of his history.  A fierce fighter, there is no doubt of that.  What does he intend to do with his skills now the realm is at peace and he has his pardon?”

“Y-y-you had best ask him Your Grace.” Tyrion can see that Sansa’s face is even whiter now.  He wonders if she has tightened her grip on Clegane’s arm.  _She has suddenly realized that her sworn shield has options, that it is possible he might leave her._

“Sandor Clegane – what will you do now the realm is at peace and you are free to roam the seven kingdoms?”

Clegane does not hesitate, “I will return to the North with Lady Sansa and continue in service to the Starks.”

“Would that decision change if I were to ask you to make me the same promise Lady Sansa is making on behalf of herself and her brother?  That you will not venture south of the Neck unless it is at my command?”

“There is nothing for me in the South, Your Grace.  I will be content to remain in the North for the rest of my days if that is your command.”  He bows, the Queen nods and the audience is over.  Sansa curtsies to the Queen as she withdraws.  It is not until the Queen’s door at the back of the dais has closed behind her that all the strength seems to go out of Sansa.  She seems almost to crumple, but Clegane guides her to sit on one of the steps that lead up to the dais and kneels beside her.

“I’m sorry to be such a trial to you,” Sansa almost whispers to her sworn shield. 

“You are never a trial to me my lady,” when Clegane answers her his voice soft, for just a moment it almost looks like he will lift his hand to touch her hair but then his hand falls back to his side abruptly.  “You spoke well Lady Sansa, it’s almost over now.  Soon we’ll be home at Winterfell.” 

“I’ll be glad of it. I had forgotten what it was like to be so weak.”

Tyrion feels like an intruder, and clears his throat to remind them he is still there.  They both turn to look at him.  “Perhaps Lady Sansa would like to retire to her chambers until our audience with the High Septon?”

“Thank you Lord Tyrion.  I think that would be best.” It is Sansa who answers him and she rises to her feet with Clegane’s assistance.  “Rickon,” she calls. When there is no response she calls him again.  The third time Clegane adds his voice to hers…but silence is their only answer.

Tyrion calls the guards in from outside the throne room, neither has seen the youngest Stark leave.  The guards on the Queen’s door swear no-one has passed them except for Her Grace.  A thorough search of the room does not reveal the boy’s whereabouts.  Rickon Stark has vanished.

 

 


	6. The Search and the Spider

“Where could he have gone? There are only two sets of doors and both were guarded.”  Tyrion feels like he has been repeating this phrase over and over for the past hour. 

The four guards have been questioned again and again.  The throne room has been searched thoroughly three times by three different guard teams.  Sansa has not moved from her seat on the dais steps and Sandor Clegane has joined every search. 

Tyrion has sent runners to every guard post in the Red Keep asking them all to keep an eye out for the boy.  The heir to the North... if anything happens to the boy Sansa will become the heir to Winterfell and nothing good will come of that.  Not for her.  All the vile rumours that impugn her honour will not be enough to stop the marriage proposals then.  Houses that shun her now will court and flatter her and then once she is theirs they will use her as they would a brood mare.  Clegane will never have a chance with her then.  Not that he has much of a chance now. 

“Clegane!”  The man is leaning against one of the pillars, strands of his lank hair plastered to both sides of his forehead with sweat.  He looks across at Tyrion and Tyrion gestures for him to come closer.  “It seems there is only one course of action remaining to us.  I must send for Lord Varys.  The man has an intimate knowledge of every secret passage in the Keep.  The only remaining explanation I can think of for the boy’s disappearance is that he stumbled into one and is lost in the walls.”

“The Lady Sansa will not like to see Lord Varys but I suppose it cannot be helped.”

“She seems to be taking her brother’s disappearance rather well.”

“Lady Sansa has had a lot of practice dealing with his disappearances.  And he’s a tough little thing... he reminds me of his other sister.”

“You do not think any harm has come to him then?  An accident?”

“If Rickon were hurt they’d be a bloody great direwolf in here with us.  If we were at Winterfell we wouldn’t be worried at all but he doesn’t know King’s Landing, and there are always people...”

“... who wouldn’t mind having the heir to the North in their clutches...”

“...or people who might like to see a new heir to the North.”  Clegane finishes their shared thought and he glances over at Sansa.

Tyrion sends a page to fetch Lord Varys.

Varys does not keep them waiting long.  He sails into the room wearing his most obsequious smile.  His greeting to Sansa is courtesy itself, but she returns it coldly.  _What reason does she have to dislike Varys?_   Surely she barely saw him during her time as a hostage in Kings Landing.  Then it hits him.  The story of Varys rescuing him from the Black Cells is well known now.  It must have occurred to Sansa - as it has just occurred to him - that there was another prisoner in the Black Cells once, another man in need of rescue, a man of great honour, who had also once been Hand of the King.  _If Varys was able to rescue Tyrion why did he not rescue Lord Eddard Stark?_    Varys does not waste any courtesy on Sandor Clegane only acknowledging him with a slight movement of his head.  Clegane looks away.

“Lord Tyrion.”

“Lord Varys.  We would like to know how many of the Keep’s secret passages are accessible from the throne room.”

“If I were to tell you that in front of all these people Lord Tyrion such passages would no longer be secret.”  Tyrion sees the logic of this.  There are still guards milling about, plus Sansa and Clegane. 

Tyrion orders the guards to clear the room.  Sansa crosses the room to join the three men.  She stands close to Clegane.  Once everyone else is gone Tyrion explains, “Young Rickon Stark has disappeared from the throne room Lord Varys.  He did not exit through either of the doors as he was not seen by either set of guards.  We believe he may have found the entrance to one of the passages.”

“How tall is your brother Lady Sansa?”  Sansa lifts her hand and shows them all how high Rickon would stand if he stood beside her. “Hmm,” Varys muses, “that at least is a place to start; the entrance may have been right at his eye line.  Now if you will all excuse me I will begin my search.”

“That won’t work.”  Sansa stated baldly.  “Rickon doesn’t know you.  He will hear you coming and hide.  You have to take my sworn shield with you.  He is the only one who Rickon doesn’t hide from at home.”

“Lady Sansa. Sandor Clegane is a large man and many of the passageways are rather narrow and low.  It will be most uncomfortable for him.”

“I’m not one to mind a little discomfort Lord Varys.”

“I will also have to blindfold you, at least for a time.”

Sansa opens her mouth perhaps to protest.  But Clegane speaks up before she can.

“If you must.  I should escort Lady Sansa back to her chambers before we begin our search though.” 

Sansa shakes her head.  “I will be fine.  Soon it will be time for Lord Tyrion and I to meet with the High Septon.” 

“I and a compliment of guards will escort you to our audience with the High Septon and keep watch over you until your sworn shield returns Lady Sansa.”

“Thank you Lord Tyrion.”

 


	7. A conversation in the gardens

They could not remain in the throne room until their audience with the High Septon so Tyrion suggested a stroll in the gardens reasoning Sansa would be more comfortable with him in a public place.  Their complement of guards walked ten steps behind them.  She seemed strangely calm.  The calmest he had seen her in King’s Landing, despite the fact her brother was missing.   _Had she been so nervous at the prospect of seeing the Queen?_

 “Lady Sansa, may we speak as friends?”

“If you wish Lord Tyrion.”  The tone of her voice told him clearly that it wasn’t what she would wish at all.

“Sandor Clegane is much changed since the last time I saw him.  More like he was when I first knew him at Casterly Rock when he was a squire.  Whatever you have done to bring about this change you have my gratitude.”

“He is much changed from what he was that is true but I can take no credit for it.  He was already like this when he came to find me in the Vale.”

“You say he came to find you in the Vale?  I always thought he had come across you by accident.  Why was he looking for you?”

“He made me a promise once.  He looked for me to honour it; much the same as Ser Jamie tried to honour the promise he made to my mother by sending Lady Brienne to find me.” 

“What will you do once you have your annulment?  Do you mean to marry again?”

“The North needs me to marry again.  My brother’s Council of Four will consult with Bran and myself to choose a suitable husband.”

“You don’t feel inclined to choose a husband for yourself this time?”

“That is not my fate.  I am no longer the romantic girl with a head full of songs who came to King’s Landing with my father.  I know the best I can expect in marriage is not to fear my husband, and to perhaps feel some respect and liking for him.”

“So there is no man you would wish to marry?  You do not perhaps have some affection for the man who serves as your sworn shield?”

“Whatever vile rumours you may have heard about Sandor Clegane and I you may rest assured they are without any foundation.  He has behaved with perfect propriety towards me, and he would be the first man to tell me to dismiss any romantic notions about marriage.”

“Perhaps he would be less dismissive of romantic notions involving himself.  You would not be the first woman to fall in love with her sworn shield.  It is said the Princess Rhaenyra loved Ser Criston Cole.”

“A man who went on to become one of her bitterest enemies.”

“Ser Criston was Kingsguard and forbidden to marry.  The pardon the Queen gave Clegane formally discharged him from the Kingsguard.  He is free to marry.  As you will be after we meet with the High Septon.  You could marry on your way back to Winterfell – there would be nothing the Council of Four could do about it.”

“You would have me ask Sandor Clegane to betray his liege Lord?  Hasn’t his reputation suffered enough?  To abandon one liege Lord is bad enough but if he was to betray a second his honour would be beyond redemption.  What would become of him then?”

“Clegane’s Keep is his.  All he has to do is ask me for it.”

“That cursed place.  He would never wish to live there.”

“There are many lands and lordships in the Queen’s gift Lady Sansa.  The realm has been decimated by war.  As the Queen’s Hand I could arrange...”

“This is a pointless conversation Lord Tyrion.  You talk of things that will never come to pass.”

“Lady Sansa you have suffered much.  Betrothed to Joffery, married to me, a captive of Lord Baelish.  I only wish you to find some happiness.” 

“Happiness is not the lot of a highborn woman in Westeros Lord Tyrion.”


	8. The audience with the High Septon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Many thanks to all those who are reading this especially those who have left comments and kudos on this work. You have encouraged the author :-)

Tyrion is grateful that their audience with the High Septon is to take place at the small sept in the Red Keep – he is thankful that he will not have to escort Sansa up the steps of the Great Sept of Baelor.  He is happy they have spared her that ordeal at least.

As they walk together towards the sept Tyrion explains the process to her.  How they both have to meet with the High Septon separately first, before he speaks with them both together.  Tyrion reminds her that the High Septon has already been through their written evidence.  He has already indicated that the annulment will be granted but the proper process must still be followed.  Sansa does not answer him; he wonders if she is even listening.

As they arrive at the sept a page steps out of the porch and calls Tyrion’s name. Sansa is left to wait. 

The page ushers Tyrion into a small room off to one side of the sept where the High Septon is seated at a table. He invites Tyrion to take a seat opposite.

His discussion with the High Septon goes well – after all there is nothing to tell but the truth.  How he knew Sansa was unwilling, how he objected to the marriage himself and only went along with his father’s plan to spare her a worse fate.  How the marriage has never been consummated.  All of them excellent reasons to grant an annulment. 

Sansa is ushered into the room by the same page as he is leaving.  While he waits outside to be recalled Tyrion imagines her telling a similar story.  

Very little time passes before the page returns and Tyrion is ushered back in to join Sansa and the High Septon. 

Sansa is sitting quietly with her hands in her lap.  Four identical copies of the papers that will end their marriage are spread on the table in front of her.  The High Septon stands on the other side of the table.  He waits for Tyrion to take a seat before he begins to speak.

“I have no doubt the marriage between you took place without the Lady Sansa’s consent; and without the consent of her family.  Lord Tyrion, you have stated that you consented to the match reluctantly.  You have both sworn that you were never truly husband and wife.  As you both swear to this a physical examination of Lady Sansa is not required.  However, as a man of the gods I am reluctant to set aside a union they have sanctified.  The gods may have had a reason for bringing you two together beyond the ambition of Tywin Lannister.  A marriage between Houses Stark and Lannister would be a good thing for the realm.  Many years have passed since you last saw each other.  I would ask you both if there is any chance you might reconsider, and consent today to be man and wife in truth.”

Tyrion senses the hand of the Queen in this.  She has said these very words to him in the past.  He glances across at Sansa and the hands in her lap are clenched into tight little fists.Tyrion knows he must speak first, or Sansa may think he had a hand in this ambush.

“No,” he says, “there is no chance.”

“None.”  She echoes. 

“Very well.  Let us sign the papers then.”  The High Septon hands the quill first to Tyrion, who returns it to him once he has signed his name on each of the four copies.  Then he gives it to Sansa so she can do the same, before the High Septon takes the quill back to sign his own name and affix the seal of the Seven to each copy.  “Now I will take the papers to the Queen for the Royal Assent.  You may wait here.”

Tyrion gets out of his chair and walks to the window.  He looks out into the yard.

“Do you think she will sign?” Sansa’s voice is flat.

“She will do as she has said.  She just couldn’t resist trying to get her own way one last time.”

“Will she be offended if we leave at first light tomorrow?”  She asks.  She must be confident of finding her brother if she still talks of leaving tomorrow.

“If she was, I would talk her out of her offence.”

They lapsed into silence. 

“Lady Sansa may I ask you something?  It’s about Sandor Clegane.”

“Did we not exhaust this topic in the gardens?  You may ask my Lord but I cannot promise to answer.”

 “My family didn’t always do right by him.  Will the Starks treat him well Lady Sansa?  He has a good mind, if you’ll let him use it.  He might want lands and a wife and family of his own one day, will the Starks give him those opportunities?”  He wonders how she will react to the thought of Clegane taking a wife.  If it bothers her he can’t tell.

“Who are you to question the Starks on our treatment of him?  Not that it is any concern of yours but Bran has offered him titles and lands but he has refused them.”

“He also refused Clegane’s Keep when I offered to return it to him.  He told me he intended to spend the rest of his life in service to _you_ and your family.”  He chooses his words carefully, emphasising the ‘you’ in the hope of bringing his point home, but he needn’t have bothered as Sansa seems to have heard only the first part of what he has spoken.

“Why would you do that?  Why would you offer a man sworn to the Starks lands in the West?”

“Because they are his.”

“I don’t know what game you are playing Lord Tyrion.  If you seek to use me in some plot to get Sandor Clegane to return to the Westerlands I warn you he is a Stark man now.”

“I owe the man a debt Lady Sansa.  Just as I owe a debt to the Starks.  I must to seek to repay both.  Sandor Clegane gave many years in service to my family.  He also rescued my wife from captivity in the Vale.  I owe him for that.”

“He didn’t rescue me because I was your wife!” She snapped.

“No but that does not change the fact that you were my wife when he did it. If you do not mean to marry him we could turn that fact to your advantage.   He was known for his loyalty to the Lannisters.  If he still served House Lannister - or at least one representative of it – it would never be believed that he dishonoured you.  I could say I sent him to rescue you and to protect my Stark relatives.”

“No one would believe that.  Everyone knows he left the service of House Lannister the night of the Blackwater.”

“There are few left alive who could dispute my version of what happened that night.  I was Hand of the King and among the last people to see him.  Perhaps, when I thought the battle was lost I took command of the troops and sent him on a special mission for me.  I could have maintained contact with him by some means – sending him one final instruction before I escaped Kings Landing asking him to find you and keep you safe.”

“That would be a lie.”

“A lie that might lessen the damage to your reputation, my lady. A lie that would mean no one would whisper the word turn-cloak behind his back.”

“A lie that would see him return to the Westerlands and the service of House Lannister.  I was right to suspect your motives.”

“I would reward him with lands and a lordship for his service.”

“He wouldn’t take them from you.  He hates lies and _liars_.”

The High Septon returns to the room then.  He gives them each a copy of the paper that has ended their marriage as though it never was.

 


End file.
